Part 36
Afterword.
"Cascade Point" started out as a raw idea-the visual effects of the Colloton Drive-plus a simple statement of the story problem- the ship getting lost through some sort of malfunction. That was it; and for me that's not a heck of a lot to start with. It was one of the few stories I've done where I was willing to just jump in without any real idea of where it was going or even where it was ultimately going to end up. Somewhere along the line the details worked themselves out, and the characters fleshed themselves out, and the story found its proper conclusion... and apparently it was the right conclusion, because the fans at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention in Los Angeles voted it a Hugo Award for best novella of the year. There is no greater reward for a writer than to know the readers enjoy his work; that reward, not the Hugo itself, is the memory this story will always hold for me.
And with that final bit of philosophy we find ourselves at the end of the book. From "The Dreamsender" to "Return to the Fold"
you've seen five years of style development as I've slowly grown from semi-rank amateur to at least journeyman status in this field, and from wading through all these afterwords you've perhaps gotten some insight into the view I have of those same five years. I hope you've found both journeys worthwhile.
Acknowledgments.
"The Giftie Gie Us" was first published in a.n.a.log, July, 1981 issue.
Copyright 1981 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Dreamsender" was first published in a.n.a.log, July, 1980 issue.
Copyright 1980 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Energy Crisis of 2215" was first published in Amazing Stories, March, 1981 issue. Copyright 1981 by Timothy Zahn.
"Return to the Fold" was first published in in a.n.a.log, September, 1984 issue.
Copyright 1984 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Shadows of Evening" was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March, 1983 issue. Copyright 1983 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Challenge" was first published in s.p.a.ce Gamer, December, 1980 issue.
Copyright 1980 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Ca.s.sandra" was first published in a.n.a.log, November, 1983 issue.
Copyright 1983 by Timothy Zahn.
"Dragon Pax" was first published in Rigel Science Fiction, Fall, 1982 issue.
Copyright 1982 by Timothy Zahn.
"Job Inaction" was first published in a.n.a.log, November, 1981 issue.
Copyright 1981 by Timothy Zahn.
"Teamwork" was first published in a.n.a.log, April, 1984 issue. Copyright 1984 by Timothy Zahn.
"The Final Report on the Lifeline Experiment" was first published in a.n.a.log, May, 1983 issue. Copyright 1983 by Timothy Zahn.
"Cascade Point" was first published in a.n.a.log, mid-December, 1983 issue.
Copyright 1983 by Timothy Zahn.
